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C. Tod Jeffers (1941-2009)

tod-jeffersMy long time friend Tod Jeffers passed away after suffering a sudden heart attack in his sleep Saturday night.  Tod had a previous attack about ten years ago but had hoped that was all in his past.

The radio station in Wheeling WV that Tod has been working for the last few years ran several tributes to him yesterday.  Here’s the local TV news announcement of Tod’s passing.

Tod Jeffers in memorium

Here’s his obituary as it appears this morning in several papers in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Charles Tod Jeffers

April 22, 1941 – March 1, 2009 Charles Tod Jeffers, 67, of Wheeling, W.V., died suddenly at home, on Sunday, March 1, 2009. He was born on April 22, 1941, in Glen Dale, W.V., the son of the late Charles W. and Hazel Baker Jeffers.

Tod was a 1959 graduate of Moundsville High School and attended WLSC and Penn State University. He was U.S. Army Veteran serving in Greece, where he learned to speak the language fluently. Tod lived for the radio, broadcasting for over 45 years. He began his radio career while serving in Athens, Greece. After returning to the states, he continued that career at WMOD in Moundsville, WHLL-1600 in Wheeling (currently WKKX-1600), WWVA in Wheeling, WMAJ in State College, Pa., KLNK in Oklahoma City, Okla., WBNS in Columbus, Ohio, KOOL-94FM, then Z107FM in Harrisburg, Pa. He then made his final journey back to his roots in the Ohio Valley at AM1600-WKKX, where he hosted “Jeffers and Company”.

Throughout his career, he has interviewed many celebrities. Tod loved the people in the Ohio Valley. He was a pilot, an avid golfer, and quite a storyteller. He was a big West Virginia Mountaineer Fan; but Penn State held a large part of his heart. He was a season ticket holder at Beaver Stadium since 1965. He was “the voice” of the Penn State Men’s Basketball and Wrestling Programs.

Tod is survived by his daughter, Vicki Hoak (Russ Allen), of Chippewa Township, Pa.; a son, Andy Jeffers, of State College, Pa.; his grandchildren, Matt Hoak, of Vienna, Va., Danielle Hoak, of Chippewa Township, and Jasa Jeffers, of State College; his brothers, Toby (Kathy) Jeffers, of Beaver, Pa., and Jay (Kathy) Jeffers, of Moundsville; a sister, Marla (Ed) Rogerson, of Lake Arrowhead, Calif.; and his beloved pet and companion, Mikey, who will be lost without his faithful friend.

Tod will be deeply missed by all his family, friends, co-workers, and his many devoted listeners. Family will receive friends on Wednesday from 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. at Grisell Funeral Home & Crematory, 400 Jefferson Avenue, Moundsville, where Memorial Services will be held on Thursday at 4 p.m., with Mike Eskridge officiating. Private interment will be held at the convenience of the family. Sympathy expressions at grisellfuneralhomes.com.

Tod will be sorely missed. He had an incredible ability to be at home in just about any environment. Wherever he went, he would quickly become the center of attention as he would hold court with his tales. As tall as they seemed to many, having been an integral part of more than just a few, I must admit that he stuck pretty much to the truth yet still managed to make them seem wildly entertaining.

Listeners to his radio show, in response to a poll asking how Tod would be remembered, overwhelming described answered as a “storyteller”. Nothing could be more accurate.

My condolences go out to his brothers and sister, his children, and his grandchildren. His oldest grandson, Matt, graduated from Penn State two years ago. Tod and I used to joke about how he was apt to soon become a great grandfather. Sadly he won’t see that day.

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My 60th Celebrations!

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Decided to keep the 60th a small celebration (unlike the 40th & 50th). Had dinner with some close friends last weekend. Note the beautiful orchid arrangement Dawn made (and small bouquets for each lady). Kenny, I do look much better when pictures are taken out of the sunshine, don’t I?

Dinner on  my birthday was at Dawn’s. Reid was sick, so he went to bed early. Blake helped Mommy decorate…he especially loved the balloons and the Mickey Mouse cake.

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Shannon put together a little book of “60 Things I’ve Learned from My Mom”.  Some were pretty standard things a mother should teach a child i.e., “Patience”, “Work Ethic”, “Pride” etc. Some were things our mother taught us i.e., “Kill them with Kindness”, giving people the “Benefit of the Doubt” etc.  Some things were applicable to just us i.e., “The Fall Family Lazy Gene – it does exist and I’ve taught her how to combat it”, “How much she loves Mickey Mouse cakes”, “How to pronounce things correctly – The ‘Mary’ test is a perfect example”, and of course “Family – Nothing matters more”.

It was a great birthday and would only have been better with all of you here. We got close on Christmas…we need to keep trying!

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Updated software

The next time you go to enter a post, things might look a little different. That’s because I’ve updated the WordPress software which runs the blog. Everything should still be pretty straightforward but use the help function in the right sidebar if you have any problems.

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Happy Birthday Sweet Sixty

MARILYN, THE UTAH FALLS HOPE YOU HAVE A FANTASTIC SIXTIETH.

Nice, I can just see the curl in my bangs.
"Nice, I can just see the curl in my bangs."

IT’S NOT ALWAYS EASY BEING THE SECOND SIBLING.

Larry's going to be such a great Dad.
"Larry's going to be such a great Dad."

THE SECOND CHILD FOLLOWING SOMEONE AS CONFIDENT AS LARRY.

If you take my picture again I'll slug you with a broom.
"If you take my picture again I'll slug you with a broom."

THE SECOND PRETTIEST CHILD (FOLLOWING GARY).

Why am I wearing this miner's lamp on my head.
"Why am I wearing this lamp on my head."

THE SECOND SMARTEST (FOLLOWING KENNY).

What's Gary packin'?
"What's Gary packin'?"

AND THE SECOND CLASSIEST (STEVE & RONNIE TIED FOR FIRST).

BUT MARILYN, YOU ARE SECOND TO NONE WHEN IT COMES TO LOVE AND DEVOTION TO THE FAMILY.

I'm into younger men.
"I'm into younger men."

HAPPY BIRTHDAY,

KENNY, LISA, ELLIOT AND NATALIE

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$7,490,133.87

Props to the kids for setting a new record for dollars raised topping last years number by $800,000.

The total is unveiled to the dancers at the end of the marathon when the cards in the above photo are slowly raised from right to left – thus the million dollar digit is the last to be shown. Usually, everyone has a pretty good idea what the last figure is so it’s not really a shock.

This year was different.

There was a real concern that THON wouldn’t be able to top last year’s $6.6 million number. In fact, a lot of people didn’t even think they’d be able to make it to $6M. When the 490,000 number was displayed, I’m sure that most people thought that they had probably come up short. I’m sure that some even thought that the last number would be a five. When the seven was lifted up the place went absolutely bonkers. No one expected a dollar figure that high.

I’ll post video of that moment when I can find some.

Here’s the video:


 

 

Shot of the dance floor with an hour remaining:

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THON 2009

This is my annual post where I talk about the Dance Marathon that the kids at PSU put on every year. It’s the largest student run philanthropy in the world. Last year they raised over $6 million dollars. Given the tough times at the moment, getting that much this year will be a real challenge. All the monies go to fight childhood cancers, hence THON’s rallying cry FTK – “For The Kids”.

Here’s a live link to what’s going on at the Bryce Jordan Center Arena on campus. I’ll probably head up Sunday afternoon to hear JR and Natalie perform – they are traditionally the last band to play for the kids.

THON 2009 Webcam

Rather than rehash what I’ve written before, here are some links to the old posts that I’ve made.

– THON 2007
– $5,240,385.17
– Capping my THON Coverage

And here’s a good clip that summarizes what it’s all about.

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I could have been on TV

Missed out on a great opportunity today. PSU played Wisconsin in a Sunday afternoon hoops game covered by the Big Ten Network today (unfortunately, we played terribly and got beat). My standard routine for a basketball game is to TiVo it and come back and watch the game afterward.

Another standard routine of mine used to be to get up at half time and walk around the arena to stretch my legs. For most of this season I haven’t done that because walking up (the arena is sunken) the 30 some steps from my seat to the concourse was just exhausting. However, within the last two weeks I’ve resumed my half time exercise routine.

So after the game I come home and am watching the game replay. Just as the second half is about to start, the TV camera gradually zooms in on the fans behind the Wisconsin bench. They zoom all the way down to one fan who is standing by himself as the announcers talk about him. It was two time US Open champion Andy North who is a HUGE Wisconsin basketball fan and catches as many games as he can. The cameras zoom in so far that the only thing that fills the screen is Andy’s upper torso and the two empty blue seats behind him – my seats.

I was literally seconds from sitting back down. Blown opportunity to get some TV face time.

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I’ve talked about them a lot

I thought you should get to see, and this time, hear them. I stumbled across this YouTube video of JR and Natalie recorded at the Cafe 210 on New Year’s Eve.

I kind of hoped that I might be in the video somewhere because New Year’s Eve was actually my first real night back out in public. Shortly after I got out of the hospital, I made it my objective to make it to the band’s New Year’s Eve show and I did (even if I did run out of gas and leave shortly after midnight). Unfortunately, I didn’t make an appearance in the video (or at least a visible appearance). I was actually standing on the other side of the state almost directly opposite the person with the camera so I’m somewhere there hidden in the shadows.

Here’s another clip from a night that I wasn’t there.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the videos.

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My Groundhog Day story

Back in the early 70’s a few of us here at PSU got a great idea.  We decided we’d celebrate Groundhog Day with a party and a trip to Punxsutawney.  Feb 2nd fell on a Friday that year (which with a little quick internet research tells me that the year was 1973).  About 30 of us signed on.  One of the guys was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity and he arranged for the use of the fraternity party room.  We also chartered a bus from the local bus company. 

One keg rental and we were good to go.  The party started about midnight and went until about 3:30 AM when the bus showed up.  We all piled onto the bus, dragging the keg with us and headed to Gobbler’s Knob.

Gobbler\'s Knob
Gobbler's Knob

Punxsy is about 80 miles from PSU but in those days it was all back roads and probably well over a two hour trip. Lo and behold disaster hit us about 45 minutes out when our bus broke down. We had to wait almost an hour before a backup bus was located to fill in for the disabled one (rounding up a bus and driver at 4:30 in the morning evidently isn’t the easiest thing to do). With that delay we knew it was going to be a close call as to whether we would make Phil’s appearance or not.

Punxsatawny Phil
Punxsatawny Phil

Sure enough we got to the Knob just in time to see everyone come pouring down the hill. Amazing no one seemed to mind (probably a result of the alcohol). On to phase three of the escapade – the Punxsutawney Country Club where we had reservations for the annual Groundhog Day Breakfast and where we got to meet the Groundhog Day Queen. We were treated like royalty by all the Punxsy folk – this was well before the movie and before it became a really huge deal to head to Punxsy – they thought it was great that a group would come all the way from State College.

Despite the amount of alcohol that we all had consumed, we were all on our best behavior and there were no incidents (I honestly don’t think we could do the same in this day and age – not to sound like an old fogey but every weekend here I see kids that just don’t know how to handle their alcohol). However, by 10:00 am or so, we were all pretty much exhausted. Word came that it was time to go and we all piled back onto the bus.

The ride back to State College was pretty quiet as the whole crowd tried to grab some shut eye. We pulled into State College and exited the bus in front of the fraternity house. I was at the back of the bus and was the last one off. Waiting at the bottom of the bus steps was my friend Chuck Gambone, who was basically the driving force behind the whole trip (Chuck was in grad school but worked part time for a travel agency during football bowl season so he knew all the ins and outs of making the trip arrangements).

Chuck’s first words to me were “Where’s GW?” (GW was Chuck’s roommate). I looked at him inquisitively. He repeated “GW. Wasn’t he in the back with you?” “Nope” was my answer. A little bit of panic spread across Chuck’s face at that moment as he realized that he had left his roommie in Punxsy.

We later found out that GW had gone to the bathroom just as we all piled onto the bus. When he came out he initially thought that we had just pulled the bus away for a bit to pull a joke on him. It wasn’t until 10-15 minutes passed that he realized that we really had left him behind. There weren’t any cell phones in those days so he had no way of alerting us to the problem.

Chuck was really upset but didn’t really know what to do. He figured he’d better hurry home guessing that GW would probably be calling often. Chuck raced home, walked into the apartment and was promptly greeted in a not so friendly manner by GW who was already home.

Fortunately for GW, his new Punxsy friends had taken good care of him. As soon as they realized that he’d been left behind they took him over to a table where the local Punxsy morning radio personality was doing his show. The host relayed the story about GW being stranded and asked his listeners if anyone was headed to State College that day. Within minutes someone had called in and offered GW a ride to SC. He actually wound up beating the bus home.

Chuck still lives in State College and whenever I run into him around this time of year, we have a good left about the failed Punxsy trip.